Why restaurants are adding plant-based options to their menu

April 6, 2018

More chefs and restaurants are finally catching on and starting to add dedicated vegan "V" / plant-based items to their menus. If you offer it, they will come. And, those that didn't come for it...well others will still buy. While this is true, we have not reached a tipping point in "inclusive dining."

Not everyone in your friends group, family or your significant other wants to go to a "vegan" resturant. Plus, there is a need and great benefit to expose those with open food preferences to the deliciousness of plant-based foods; and having the option available makes the plant-based choice easier.

Just how significant is the growing plant-based and vegan movement? Here are a few facts...

Plant-based and vegan eaters are rapidly growing: more than 5% of the world now identifies as vegan (up from 1% at the beginning of 2016)...and growing.

Google Trends shows searches for 'vegan' increased by 90% in 2016. And in 2018, “vegan” for the first time surpassed “vegetarian” in volume of searches on Google.

U.S. food giant Tyson is now an investor in Beyond Meat, a plant-based protein company. This is just one of the many companies, like DANONE, investing in and buying up plant-based companies. (If these food juggernauts are getting in, that should say something in itself.)

The plant-based food market is now over $3.1 billion (and growing), and plant-based food purchases grew by more than 8% in 2017.

The purchases of plant-based milks alone have soared 61% between 2012-2016 in the U.S. As these alternative milk purchases rise, cow-milk sales continue to drop.

HuffingtonPost, Forbes and other mainstream publications have said 2018 is the “year of the plant” and that plant-based foods will be the hottest food trend in 2018. (For the recored, here and PlantBasedPopUp, we know this is not simply a "trend" but a human behavior shift.)

[Check out more stats on our 'why plant-based' page HERE.]

The reality is, restaurants benefit greatly for catering to this dining segment. Restaurants that offer dedicated “V” items and options get exposure through popular apps like HappyCow and other vegan/plant-based dining apps/platforms, and through publications and bloggers.

On a final note, people choose plant-based living for one or more of the following reasons: Environment, Health and/or Animal welfare/ethics. But no matter your reason for not consuming animal products, know you were part of an aware subset of people that are helping affect positive change on a massive scale.